a death cinematic's Information

About Us:
a death cinematic is just one man with
a single guitar, an amp, and some
effects. all the sounds come from
these four elements which are then
mixed with intuition and improvisation
before they are recorded and then
cleaned up minimally on a computer.
once these sounds are recorded and
arranged they cannot be recreated.
each composition is made up of
multiple layers which are shifted and
changed between tracks. this makes it
impossible to reproduce them. the
approach is not unlike one might use
to make a painting or a sculpture. not
all mistakes are eliminated, some are
embraced and built upon as others
might only slightly be covered or
changed in order to produce a whole
new effect.

Photos

IMBlasts

silent ballet review

Score: 6.5/10
It's really nice to find a piece of media (of any
type) in which you can always find something new.
That being said, A Death Cinematic's latest is a
complete mindwarp - every time I listen to it, I
feel completely differently about it. I hated it,
I loved it, I was impressed by its darkness then
dismayed and confused by its lightness - there has
simply been no pinning it down. Last.fm seems to
be convinced that Sunn O))) and its various kin
(Khanate, KTL, Asva, Ascend...) are the most
similar bands to this anonymous solo artist, but I
don't see the resemblance; Stephen O'Malley and
Greg Anderson are renowned for their ability to
bludgeon with waves of black sound, but A
Parable... doesn't bludgeon at all. It tends,
rather, to quietly infiltrate, to sneak into the
chinks and blisters of our outsides and overwhelm
from the inside. In a phrase, it's more black
death than Black Knight.
If there is anyone who could be in the same
category as A Death Cinematic, it seems like some
of the more recent experimental black metal groups
are them. British 'black metalist' Caïna, in
particular, has created a similar sound, but even
he can't nail down the same marriage of black
metal, post-rock, and ambient that makes A Death
Cinematic such a unique project, and this record
so unlike anything else I've ever heard. There is
an almost shoegazey fuzz to many of the guitar
layers that characterise this album; the high
reverb and 60's-esque gain create a morose,
mournful tone much of the time, but these echoed
strains also carry a menace that is only
reinforced by the more modern distortion loops or
minor-key background melodies. I don't know what A
Death Cinematic does to sound so evil, but it
works.
My biggest complaint is the length. A Parable on
the Aporia of Vengeance and the Beauty of
Impenetrable Sadness is a double-disc,
hour-and-thirty-five-minute affair that is
primarily an effective communication of a vision.
In order to merit that kind of length, though, an
album has to be spectacular, and by the last few
tracks on disc two, A Parable... has really
started to lose steam. It is an unfortunate fact
that the nature of drone and ambient types of
music means that they often lack identifiable
propulsive elements. While closer "Brilliance of
the Morning Snow" eloquently and accurately
conveys the idea of a winter sun rising over fresh
powder, its full effect is lost, muted by
everything that preceded it, and I am tired by the
time I get there. For most of its runtime, this
record barrages the listener with several very
different sounds that work together by being
slightly at odds with each other, and this is
doubtlessly responsible for my fatigue. This is
not a construction where a melody stands out,
bolstered and accented by countermelodies and
harmonies, but of several competing lines that are
mixed and improvised in such a way that certain
ones are more immediately accessible without being
dominant. It is an interesting but also trying
experience to try and sort those strands of music
out, to mark the distinctions between them and
make sense of how they work together, and
ultimately I think few people are up to the
challenge of doing that for an hour and a half.
A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and the
Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness is supposed to
stand as a single piece in eleven movements, and
for the most part, this is an intriguing and
well-executed effort. Though it does not inspire
the sort of dread or sense of impending doom that
Sunn O))) might, there is an inescapable darkness
in this record that I find appealing. This is
music for a lonely, moonless night.
-Lee Stablein, The Silent Ballet

the one true dead angel
review

There's ambitious, there's grandiose, and then
there's the latest release from A Death Cinematic
-- two cds of dark, apocalyptic noise-drone housed
in a highly elaborate package, limited to 250
copies. You have to actually see one of the band's
handmade, meticulously crafted cd cases to truly
appreciate the effort that goes into the design
and production of the packaging; it's fitting for
a guy who went to art school that his musical
project should be equally focused on the physical
package. The band's visual approach (if not the
packaging itself) is vaguely reminiscent of early
releases by Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and the
fuzzy, soundtrack-oriented vibe shares some
elements of that band's sound, but the work here
is purely instrumental and devoid of politics (at
least overtly), and shares as much with
dark-ambient and noises genres as it does with
soundtracks. The eleven tracks are long, haunting,
and bear titles like "When I leave I wish to kill
the sun" and "Their blood crawls through frozen
fields and dead nights" -- baroque and creepy
titles are the band's signature, really, just as
much as the mix of tinkling guitars and scratchy
noises. The sonic depths of the tracks themselves
are considerably more amorphous, consisting of
abstract noises, found sound, and some of the most
ghost-like guitar outside of an early Brian Eno or
Roxy Music record. There's no particular concept
or overweening plan to the pieces, just a slow,
steady flow of unnerving sound and fragmented
melodies that suggest an impending act of doom
that never quite arrives. Haunting minimalism is
at the core of the band's aesthetic, a sound
that's actually enhanced by its low-tech origins
(all the material was recorded to four-track in an
attic). There's no question that two discs worth
of dissociative drone and evaporating guitar is a
lot of death-ambient to wade through, but it's all
good. Disquieting, yes, but good.

an experimusic.com review

So I have a desk full of records for review from
some heavily established acts, some of which have
been lying around for several weeks. As soon as A
Death Cinematic (ADC) dropped on the system
though, this reviewer has been listening to very
little else and was compelled to write a review as
soon as. Being a sucker for the Godspeed school of
post-apocalyptic post rock, ADCs sombre and
charred soundscapes that glisten with a glimmering
ray of hope totally captivated from the first
listen. Self-taught and hell-bent on utilising a
fully DIY approach, the tracks on A Parable .
are improvised pieces that are constructed simply
through the use of a guitar, amp and some effect
pedals with computers only being utilised in
post-production as a mixing and clean-up tool. A
quick gaze upon the timeless and emotive urban
landscape imagery and short-videos adorning ADCs
website reveals a fascination with the uneasy
meeting of decayed industrialisation and the
boundless and epic beauty of nature, a phenmonena
that is sonically documented on this release.
Sprawled across two discs and packaged in a
beautifully crafted DIY box, the 11 movements on
A Parable . shift slowly and strategically
between lushly textured post-rock compositions,
that are steeped in an apocalyptic atmosphere, and
discordant drone symphonics whilst all-the-time
wringing out that ultra emotive ray of hope. The
fusion of these post-rock melodics and fuzzy
drones are composed with aplomb and are designed
to squeeze out every last drop of emotive
audio-melancholy possible. Occasionally, on tracks
such as When I leave . and Knives At My
Brain , ADC breaks into bouts of perpetuating
fuzz-laden skree which is reminiscent of the
hypnotic bob and sway of Skullflower,
Vibracathedral Orchestra or Ashtray Navigations.
Most of the time however this skuzz sound is
integrated amongst cleaner and more focused
melodies that form into epic soundscapes which
crystallise the very fabric of emotion that is
portrayed by pre-apocalyptic fear and
post-apocalyptic mourning.
After the lushly textured, hazy driftcore of The
Grasses Will Grow .., The Sun Glints Through 
stomps authoritatively with a psychedelic metallic
doom aesthetic. The charging momentum provided by
the perpetually chunky riffage seeps right into
your cerebral making your head automatically
twitch and nod whilst the lilting Eastern-esque
feedback melodics disorientate and captivate
wholeheartedly.
With its twin layers of solitary guitar and
atmospheric feedback ebbing and flowing, The
Heart Races  is a genuine masterclass in
emotionally isolated expansiveness and proves to
be the perfect follow-up to the dark energy of the
previous track. On the second disc, the opener
once again pits deliciously engaging liquid-guitar
melodies against a charging wall of moody fuzz to
visceral effect . After the desolate and
paranoia-inducing sci-fi decay of Knives at My
Brain  mellowism ensues on the follow-up track
allowing one to take heed of those glory-times now
destroyed.  And All The Leaves . goes on to
reverberate with emotive majesty, the glistening
liquid guitars locking into idealistic melodic
motifs whilst an effervescent burble plays out in
the distance. At the end of this epic sprawl of an
album comes Brilliance of the First Morning
Snow, a perfect closing piece which fuses a
pessimistic low-end turbulence with an optimistic
guitar haze, the strings quivering with a sense of
expectation amongst the sea of hopelessness.
Beautiful.
Scoring what sounds like that golden but brief
period of time when the sky is black and society
is under no illusion as to its devastating fate,
ADC composes sweeping cinematic sound for the lost
soul. Some may complain about the lack of
explosiveness and how tracks peter out instead of
rising to the fore but they would be missing the
concept. With A Parable . ADC has travelled to
the very core of the concept of post-rock and has
carved out a unique, dark and luscious territory
that stands up there with the genres forbearers.
To immerse oneself in the work of ADC would be a
thoroughly recommended experience as the audio and
visual go hand-in-hand and are designed to
stimulate your emotions by showcasing a tangible
peek into the world of post-apocalyptic
melancholic romanticism. (KS)
For fans of; Godspeed, Esmerine, Vic Chesnutt,
Hotel Hotel, Skullflower, Vibracathedral Orchestra

sonic frontiers review of a
parable

It took me a long time and a great deal of
contemplation to finally organize my thoughts on A
Death Cinematics A Parable on the Aporia of
Vengeance and the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness.
Sure, the interview I conducted with the man
behind A Death Cinematic had given me some much
needed insight, as had the time spent poring over
the sprawling double album itself. But things
didnt completely click until recently, as I was
reading The Gunslinger, book one of Stephen Kings
The Dark Tower series. As I read the story of
Roland, the last Gunslinger walking across the
arid, endless desert in search of The Man in
Black, it occurred to me that A Parable would
make the perfect soundtrack.
In many ways, the music of A Death Cinematic is
Roland the Last Gunslinger re-cast as the Last
Guitarist, a lone musician wandering across a
post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of
redemption. Armed with only a guitar, an amp and
some effects, A Death Cinematic creates the sonic
equivalent not of ultimate catastrophe itself, but
of the equally dark and terrifying repercussions.
A Parable is a sonic rumination on the days
following the end of the world, filled with
sorrow, yearning, anger and perhaps just the
faintest glimmer of hope, no larger than a pin
prick.
From a purely musical standpoint, A Death
Cinematic recalls to an extent the
spaghetti-western doom of Earths Hex album, as
well as the droning ambience of SunnO))) at their
most subdued. But these are merely points of
reference, because A Death Cinematic is ultimately
its own unique entity. Although the
guitar/amp/effects setup may sound deceptively
simple, A Parable is anything but an easy listen.
Layers of guitar envelop and entrance the ears of
the listener, from washes of modulating static and
noise to thick doom riffs to eerie, jangling
arpeggios. While the tempo of the album is almost
uniformly glacial throughout its duration, it
never becomes boring or inert thanks to A Death
Cinematics mastery of dynamics and variation
within this leaden pace. The grim sonic alchemy
created through the deft arrangement and interplay
of sounds transcends such conventions as tempo and
structure, creating an utterly engaging listening
experience.
The production perfectly suits the album, warm yet
sparse and minimal. This allows the various
nuances created by the layers of sound to come
through, yet leaves just a little dirt caked
around the edges. Special mention must also be
made of the incredible artwork and packaging,
painstakingly hand-assembled by the artist.
Holding the this piece of functional art in your
hands while listening to the album only adds to
the feeling that youve stumbled across the last
will and testament of the Last Guitarist, left
behind as he set off to wander the wastelands on
some unknown quest.
Overall, A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and
the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness is an
exploration of pure, unadulterated sound at its
most bleak and harrowing, the last strains of
music to escape from a dying world that has long
since moved on. Are you ready to experience the
end of days?

TELL EVERY ONE ABOUT
IMRadio -- Got to
thinking. What if each of
us independent musicians
told our family, friends,
fans and acquaintances
about IMRadio.com, how
besides the main station,
it has stations for each
of the states
individually, 52
countries, and just about
every musical genre --
reaching any internet
connection around the
world. We could tell them
in person, on the
internet or at small or
large venues. Anyone we
tell would appreciate the
convenience of such good
music from independent
musicians on their
computer. It would be
such a good way to help
all of us reach even more
listeners. With IMRadio,
we aren't just waiting at
the mercy of some major
label to decide whether
or not they will let us
be heard around the
world. There are enough
of us that the outreach
could be exponential.
And, wouldn't it be a
great way to say 'thank
you' to Paddy and all of
the other fine folks who
have put IMRadio.com on
the world's musical map.
They have put in money,
time, energy and
dedication, and all they
have asked of us in
return is to upload our
music and profile. I am
sure that they have great
plans to publicize
IMRadio and bring it to
even more listeners. In
the meantime, through,
wouldn't it be great if
we could all help a
little by just taking a
little time each day to
tell family, friends,
fans and acquaintances
about IMRadio. It
wouldn't cost a dime,
just a little time.
Yours, in Musical
Solidarity, Paul

Greetings. You have a
very Ambitious Concept,
and an Interesting
sound/approach. Very
original, unless I've
missed something in
decades of listening to
music of all
types...Carry On!
Martin- Idjit Savant

â...From I had a dream,
to keep hope alive, to
yes we can, these days
we'll survive, we will
thrive - he won't leave
the people behind: From a
Bush Abomination to
âObamaNation,â (soon)
you can ask you can tell,
take off the mask you can
yell, from a bush
abomination we take back
our nation, Obama Nation,
the American Nation...â
Please give a listen to
our new rock/reggae/folk
song âObamaNation.â
If you like it, spread
the word. Thanks. Peace.
Paul from Future Now.

Future Now thanks you for
your great music; and for
being a part of the ever
growing creative
community of independent
musicians who are taking
the opportunity, made
possible by IMRadio, to
reach 52 countries
throughout the world.